Tuesday, December 25, 2007

My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of a group of authors who, like me, are victims of a publishing scam through Airleaf Publishing, formerly Bookman Publishing, owned by Carl Lau and located in Martinsville, Indiana. We are seeking other victims who have been robbed of their hopes and dreams through investments of money and time.

As of December 19, 2007, Airleaf Publishing is OUT OF BUSINESS. We have over 275 authors in our group who have been defrauded by Airleaf Publishing for over $1,000,000.00. We are taking aggressive action with the Martinsville, Indiana police, the Indiana Attorney General's office, the Indiana Governor's office, and the Indiana Senator's office to bring criminal action against Airleaf. We have made great strides in our efforts, which resulted in the close of Airleaf and which will hopefully find us the justice we are seeking. If you are an author victim, we welcome you to join our group in our efforts to retrieving our stolen money and property, pressing criminal charges against the guilty parties, and stopping the owner of Airleaf, Carl Lau, from ever opening up a business again.

The fraudulence of Airleaf is unforgiveable. We have uncovered some of it through our own author investigations and by candid confessions by former employees who in good conscience could no longer participate in the fraud. Here are just a few examples:

1) Airleaf advertised the movie "Jessie's Girl" on their home page to mislead authors into thinking that Airleaf books are being made into movies. "Jessie's Girl" was never an Airleaf book made into a movie--it was a script written by Lawrence Dixon, the Vice President of Lite Stone Entertainment that was made into a book by Airleaf several months ago. There is no movie--only a movie trailer made by another company. Lite Stone is in the process of doing this movie, but there is no connection with Airleaf. None of the Airleaf Books to Film listed on the Airleaf website have ever been made into a film or even a trailer. It's just a way to have authors invest thousands of dollars in a scam. Lite Stone Entertainment was also used by Airleaf and has disassociated itself with the company as of 12/10/07.

2) Airleaf sold the authors a package called the Germany Book Fair in the fall of 2006, but never went. Carl Lau had his staff tell the authors that during the time he was supposed to be in Germany that he was out of town at the book fair, but he was sitting right at his desk. This money was never returned to the authors.

3) Airleaf sold the authors a package called the Germany Book Fair in the fall of 2006, but never went. Carl Lau had his staff tell the authors that during the time he was supposed to be in Germany that he was out of town at the book fair, but he was sitting right at his desk. This money was never returned to the authors.

4) Airleaf was selling the authors Bowker Club after they knew that Bowker had discontinued the service. $84,000 was collected from that service that never existed. This money was never returned to the authors.

5) Airleaf sold the London Book Fair in April 2007 to authors, but again, didn't go, and this money was never returned to the authors.

6) Airleaf sells the Books-To-Film Program where Carl Lau supposedly pitches books to Hollywood producers, but doesn't. The last trip he took to Hollywood for this program in April 2007 consisted of taking a tour of a studio instead of pitching the books. The authors are supposed to get a report about whom he spoke to and what they said, but he instructed his employees to make up false reports to send to the authors about two weeks after the fact. Or, he himself lied to the authors and made up information to appease them.

7) Airleaf sold ads in Advance Magazine, the New York Times and other large ads for hundreds of dollars but had no intention of actually running the ads. The authors never had their money returned.

8) Airleaf sold Kirkus Reviews to 80 authors for $799 in February '07 but never submitted the books or paid Kirkus to do the reviews. The money was never returned to the authors.

9) Airleaf charges thousands of dollars to authors for promotional services that claim to target 5,000 - 10,000 bookstores, television producers, radio shows, and other forms of media. Those numbers were completely pulled out of the air by employees who knew for a fact that all those packages were frauds from the very beginning.

I am gathering Airleaf authors together to join me in taking criminal action against a company founded on fraud. We now have over 100 Airleaf authors with horror stories from people who have been defrauded from $99.00 to nearly $35,000.00. These authors are joining me to fight back so we don’t have to be victims anymore.

I developed this website for two reasons: (1) to warn unsuspecting, hard working authors not to throw your money away on promises that won’t come true. Airleaf makes some wonderful promises but they fail to keep them(2) to help other Airleaf authors who are looking for justice.If you are tired of being an Airleaf Victim and want to fight back, please write to me at Bonkaye@aol.com for more information. It will not cost you ONE PENNY! I will be happy to send you a compilation of my weekly updates exposing the treachery of Airleaf Publishing and add you to my weekly update list. I will also help you take action to make sure that you have the best possible chance to getting your money back.

Here is just a sample of our authors who have been defrauded and robbed by Airleaf Publishing, starting with my own story:

1 comment:

milhouse50@yahoo.com
said...

In September of 2007 I contacted Airleaf Publishing and inquired about the cost of 100 books, (not knowing what was going on nor did they bother to tell me) I sent a money order for the 100 books after three months of not receiving the books and calling back and forth they finally sent 45books . Who do I contact for the remaining books and or refund? What do I do about getting another company to print/publish my book? WHO DO WE COMPLAIN TOO????